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Widener will preside over part of impending budget battle

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By Josh Sweigart, Staff Writer 7:11 PM Saturday, February 19, 2011

SPRINGFIELD — State Sen. Chris Widener, R-Springfield, will preside over part of an impending budget battle that will have a huge impact on local government services.

The state’s last two-year budget was balanced only with one-time federal stimulus money. That money is gone now, leaving behind it a roughly $8 billion budget hole.

As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Widener will be handed a political hot potato of a budget bill sometime after Easter.

Then will come hearings and testimony likely from scores of people advocating for their causes to be appropriately funded.

Gov. John Kasich has to sign off on a budget by June 30.

State Rep. Ross McGregor, R-Springfield, also sits on the House Finance and Appropriations committee. He said local residents benefit by having lawmakers in key posts at a pivotal time.

“Senator Widener and I are very familiar with what some of the specific needs are of Springfield and Clark County,” he said, “(and) agency directors usually take our calls.”

So far, what Widener hears most about the budget from his constituents — other than the special interests — is one question: “What does it mean to me?”

Allocating the pain

Widener said crafting this year’s budget will be more like building one from scratch than simply cutting one down. Everything is on the table, he said, and difficult decisions will have to be made about what services are vital.

But the areas that will face the biggest cuts are easy to predict, he said. It’s simple math. They are the three areas that take up the vast majority of the state’s budget.

Of every dollar in the state’s general fund, 50 cents goes to education, 24 cents to Medicaid and 10 cents to corrections, Widener said.

“This budget at the end of June will probably spend in the same way,” Widener said.

“There is no single action that is going to be able to close that gap,” McGregor said. “And I think that we’re going to have to be considering things that heretofore have been treated as sacred cows.”

“There’s going to be pain and our challenge is going to be how to allocate that pain,” he said.

Some cuts, such as those to Medicaid, will likely change the way the state does business, Widener said.

“I think we’ll probably see more emphasis on funding primary care and prevention,” he said, with the goal being to reduce expensive hospital stays.

Medicaid makes up 15 to 18 percent of Springfield Regional Medical Center’s patient volume, according to hospital spokesman Dave Lamb.

Hospital officials wouldn’t comment on the potential impact of cuts until they’ve seen the governor’s proposal. But Lamb said, “historically speaking, Medicaid has not paid hospitals at levels that cover the cost of providing care to beneficiaries.”

Schools on alert

Chris Mohr, treasurer for the Springfield City School District, is keenly aware that funding for local schools is on the chopping block.

“I think we all realize that the state has very limited resources,” he said. “We were not cut substantially in the last biennium.”

He said schools are expecting at least the 6 to 7 percent cut they dodged during the last budget when former Gov. Ted Strickland and the previous legislature propped up the budget with federal stimulus dollars.

“In addition to that, it may be upwards of 10 percent more than that, it may be even more,” he said.

Mohr has budgeted for $10.6 million in cuts over the next two years. That’s a 10.75 percent budget cut.

Mohr’s biggest concern is that across-the board cuts could disproportionately hurt school systems that rely heavily on state funding. His district, for example, gets 72 percent of its money from the state, compared to 10 percent for more affluent districts.

“Districts that get the most money from the state are typically the most needy districts in the state,” he said. “So the poor get poorer in this scenario.”

But Mohr said he has had several conversations with Widener and other local lawmakers, and he believes they understand the complicated issues facing school funding.

“(Residents) are going to be impacted by what happens to their local school districts,” Widener said. “They’re going to see their school districts have to provide less (or) provide a little less and ask for a little more.”

And while colleges and universities will also see cuts, he’s encouraging them against raising tuitions.

Prison overhauls explored

Housing nearly 51,000 people in state prisons — 135 percent of the capacity the system was built for — costs taxpayers a lot of money. And beyond that, it’s unnecessary, Widener believes.

One step to address this is a proposed bill that would overhaul sentencing in the state.

Among other things, is would reduce prison stays for inmates who undertake drug treatment, education or job training; double the threshold for felony theft charges; and increase reliance on community corrections facilities.

The bill has seen opposition from many county prosecutors in the state.

Widener says it won’t fix the budget problem, but it’s a good start.

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